Sports reporter ejected for live blogging NCAA baseball game

According to news reports, Brian Bennett, a Louisville Courier-Journal sports reporter had his media credential revoked as he was ejected from the press box of a Super Regional baseball game on Sunday because he had been live blogging the game for the newspaper.

Brian Bennett was asked to leave the press box during the bottom of the fifth inning of Louisville’s 20-2 win over Oklahoma State after NCAA representatives cited him for violating policies regarding Internet description of events.

According to the paper, Bennett was asked to leave by Missouri Senior Associate Athletics Director Gene McArtor, a representative of the NCAA baseball committee. Bennett complied with the request and left without incident. Another reporter wrote the paper’s story on the game, which clinched Louisville’s first trip to the College World Series.

According to ESPN, who own rights to televise games, blogging the game is a “live representation” and is therefore not allowed, despite the fact that the action is being shown live across the nation’s TVs, and that anyone outside the venue could easily provide a live account of the game.

Indeed:

Web sites from several schools in the Super Regionals were posting blog entries updating various games. So was the Portland Oregonian, which was reporting from Oregon State’s game against Michigan. It is believed Bennett is the only reporter ejected.

“I doubt this is the end of the story,” Bennett wrote in an entry posted later Sunday night. “It will be interesting to see if the NCAA can enforce such a policy. What strikes me as really strange is that someone watching ESPN across the street could have blogged every single pitch without a problem. Also, I seriously doubt anyone was reading my blog instead of watching ESPN.”

This strikes me as a totally ridiculous judgement. ESPN should take a leaf from the tech world where live bloggingis thenorm.

Now if the reporter had been filming the game and somehow streaming it live to a web site, I could understand the issue, but to expel a professional for “typing the action” seems bizarre. The law over the spirit, methinks.